MailScanner ANNOUNCE: New stable release 4.78.17

[Jules Field]

On 03/10/2009 16:21, Mark Sapiro wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 02, 2009 at 04:14:14PM -0500, donald.dawson at bakerbotts.com wrote:
>    
>
>> I am using a
>> custom conf file in the conf.d directory.  One issue though, the
>> %org-name% variable did not replace the 'yoursite' value from
>> MailScanner.conf.
>>
>> I had to edit the /etc/MailScanner/MailScanner.conf file to replace
>> 'yoursite' with our site name:
>>      
>
> Yes. In my case, I also change %report-dir%, so I have to change
> that too in MailScanner.conf.
>
> The alternative is that every use of a %xxx% variable would have to be
> held in abeyance until all included files are processed, and even then,
> there might be issues if the definition of one variable includes another
> variable.
>
> The current "use the current definition of the variable when it's
> encountered" strategy is much simpler and less prone to unintended
> consequences, even though it requires changes in MailScanner.conf.
>
> Here's a suggestion for Jules though. Immediately after defining the
> %xxx% variables in MailScanner.conf, put
>
> include /etc/MailScanner/conf.d/local_variables
>
> or some such. Then the rpm or whatever can install an empty
> /etc/MailScanner/conf.d/local_variables only if one doesn't already
> exist. This will give the site the ability to redefine the variables
> before they are used and allow complete configuration without touching
> MailScanner.conf.
>
> Perhaps even better, don't install /etc/MailScanner/conf.d/local_variables
> at all, since every site needs to supply at least %org-name%,
> %org-long-name% and %web-site% anyway, this will strongly encourage
> them to define these, since the include file will be missing if they
> don't.
>    
I don't want to do that as it will cause new users a strange error which 
they do not understand, leaving the software "broken by default" just 
like 99% of other software on the market :-(

The "local_variables" one is a better idea, but it will cause a warning 
to be generated as the file will be read by both default "include" 
lines. And I don't want that either.

If you can come up with a better idea for a solution, I'm all ears :-)

Jules

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